Book contents
- Frontmatter
- 1 The Cold War and the intellectual history of the late twentieth century
- 2 The world economy and the Cold War, 1970–1990
- 3 The rise and fall of Eurocommunism
- 4 The Cold War and Jimmy Carter
- 5 Soviet foreign policy from détente to Gorbachev, 1975–1985
- 6 Islamism, the Iranian revolution, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
- 7 The collapse of superpower détente, 1975–1980
- 8 Japan and the Cold War, 1960–1991
- 9 China and the Cold War after Mao
- 10 The Cold War in Central America, 1975–1991
- 11 The Cold War and southern Africa, 1976–1990
- 12 The Gorbachev revolution and the end of the Cold War
- 13 US foreign policy under Reagan and Bush
- 14 Western Europe and the end of the Cold War, 1979–1989
- 15 The East European revolutions of 1989
- 16 The unification of Germany, 1985–1991
- 17 The collapse of the Soviet Union, 1990–1991
- 18 Science, technology, and the Cold War
- 19 Transnational organizations and the Cold War
- 20 The biosphere and the Cold War
- 21 The Cold War and human rights
- 22 The Cold War in the longue durée: global migration, public health, and population control
- 23 Consumer capitalism and the end of the Cold War
- 24 An ‘incredibly swift transition’: reflections on the end of the Cold War
- 25 The restructuring of the international system after the Cold War
- Bibliographical essay
- Index
- References
18 - Science, technology, and the Cold War
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 September 2010
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- 1 The Cold War and the intellectual history of the late twentieth century
- 2 The world economy and the Cold War, 1970–1990
- 3 The rise and fall of Eurocommunism
- 4 The Cold War and Jimmy Carter
- 5 Soviet foreign policy from détente to Gorbachev, 1975–1985
- 6 Islamism, the Iranian revolution, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
- 7 The collapse of superpower détente, 1975–1980
- 8 Japan and the Cold War, 1960–1991
- 9 China and the Cold War after Mao
- 10 The Cold War in Central America, 1975–1991
- 11 The Cold War and southern Africa, 1976–1990
- 12 The Gorbachev revolution and the end of the Cold War
- 13 US foreign policy under Reagan and Bush
- 14 Western Europe and the end of the Cold War, 1979–1989
- 15 The East European revolutions of 1989
- 16 The unification of Germany, 1985–1991
- 17 The collapse of the Soviet Union, 1990–1991
- 18 Science, technology, and the Cold War
- 19 Transnational organizations and the Cold War
- 20 The biosphere and the Cold War
- 21 The Cold War and human rights
- 22 The Cold War in the longue durée: global migration, public health, and population control
- 23 Consumer capitalism and the end of the Cold War
- 24 An ‘incredibly swift transition’: reflections on the end of the Cold War
- 25 The restructuring of the international system after the Cold War
- Bibliographical essay
- Index
- References
Summary
History has seen many ferocious ideological conflicts, including the Crusades and the sixteenth-century Wars of Religion. What made the Cold War peculiarly dangerous and ubiquitous was the power of modern technology, most obviously nuclear weapons. But other new technologies were equally central: out of a vast range this chapter looks particularly at transistors, satellites, and computers. On both sides, the Cold War spawned massive military-industrial complexes, but the American version was much better integrated with the larger economy and society. The Soviet system, by contrast, suppressed the civilian economy and restricted the flow of information.; In the short term, this enabled the Soviet Union to punch above its economic weight as a military power. By the 1980s, however, technology and information had become the Soviet Achilles heel.
The varieties of ‘Big Science’
‘When history looks at the twentieth century’, wrote the American physicist Alvin Weinberg in 1961, ‘she will see science and technology as its theme; she will find in the monuments of Big Science’, such as huge rockets and particle accelerators, ‘symbols of our time just as surely as she finds in Notre Dame a symbol of the Middle Ages.
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- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge History of the Cold War , pp. 378 - 399Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010
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